Monday, February 20, 2012

First off Kirstin at kojo-designs is hosting a giveaway for my slipcover DVD today. The giveaway ends today....so head on over and comment to enter. I met Kirstin through the "Sew You Think You Can Sew" Contest. Congrats to her... she ended up winning the contest! She has great projects and inspiration on her blog....so check it out!

This chair was muslin covered underneath, and my client wanted to have a new slipcover made for it. She had some beautiful tan/cream velvet that she had me use.

CHAIR- AFTER.....she loves ruffles, but with the velvet it was going to be too thick to gather all the way around. She decided to just gather the corners.

Side of chair

Front of arm

She had me do a pillow too, out of some scraps she had. The stripe was a silk, so I lined those pieces with muslin to give it some more weight and stability. The ruffle is also only gathered on the corners.

The piping was a silk fabric as well. I have learned when making piping using silk, it's best to use a VERY small cording otherwise it looks all ripply and not smooth. This happens because the silk is so thin and not very stable.

PILLOW E-BOOK ADVENTURE

I am in the process of writing an ebook..."How to make your own pillows with piping and a zipper". I am still trying to come up with names for it. My friend, Holly suggested "Pillow Talk", which is my favorite idea so far. Let me know if you have any other suggestions for me.

It's going to be step by step instructions with pictures and text. I want to show

1) knife edge pillow (no piping with zipper)

2) pillow with piping and a zipper

3) pillow with ruffle and a zipper

4) bolster pillow with zipper

5) mitered pillow

6) flange pillow?

Depending on how long and how many pics I'll need to use, I may do the first 3 pillows in book #1 and the second 3 pillows in book #2 (more advanced). I have the text written and will be having pics taken this week! I have been mulling over this idea for awhile, and am very excited about it!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

This client was great and fun to talk to....she lived a bit further than I normally drive, but she kept me company and chatted with me during the whole fitting. My kind of gal!

COUCH--BEFORE
Here is her couch before...she wanted to switch out the back pillows for two cushions. We decided to go with the "touchdown", which is 50% down and 50% polyfiber mix. In my opinion it's the best of both worlds for a back cushion..."polyfiber" for the stability and "down" to keep it looking full and not flat and saggy over time. I took measurements and ordered her cushions from Ronco Industries in Sylmar, California.

COUCH-- AFTER
She had some awesome pillows to top it off.

I had to get a pic of this awesome green dresser....she found it in pretty rough shape on the side of the road, and she rescued it. She fixed it up and painted it green and added the white hardware.

Front of the arm...she went with a white brushed twill fabric, but decided to use the wrong side of the fabric...it had some lines in it that gave it a linen look. Plus with pets, the brushed side just collects their hair...so good choice for her.

I love the feel of it all together....DARLING!

Another after

Back view--- you can see the back cushions a bit better here...made the couch look a little more streamlined and tailored compared to the pillow back before.

Side Note--- Heading up to the cabin tomorrow for an overnight valentine date with Heber. We don't get up there much without the kids...so I am kind of excited. We are going tubing at Soldier Hollow where they have a tow rope that pulls you to the top of the hill. We are going to stop in at my favorite thrift store (St. Lawrence in Heber, Ut). And we are gonna go out to dinner.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Cariann lives in my neighborhood and wanted to decorate her bedroom after she kept seeing all my blog posts about master bedroom redo's. She asked me to help her order fabric and put it together.

She helped with April's Bedroom back in October, and after she showed the "after" pics to her husband he said, "What do we have to do to get these girls to come do our room?"....apparently just ask and commit to running a race with me! Done deal.

Bedroom--- BEFORE --- she had already taken out the rickety tv tray end tables that were next to her beautiful bed before this picture was taken.

She facebooked me her ideas and the colors she was interested in using and some tenative fabric selections that she chose with her husband on http://www.fabric.com/.

While I was in town that day, I stopped in at Restore in Orem and saw this great chair.... 50% off day, and the chair ended up being $7.50!!! I bought it without even asking her....and then played it off, that I liked it just as it was, and it would work great. hahahaha!

Cariann cut off the back tufted cushion and ripped off the skirt to prep the chair for a slipcover. I told her I'd help her slipcover it, but she'd have to wait a bit until my schedule opened up.

She was anxious to get it done, so next thing I know, I receive an email that she had just ordered my "How to Slipcover" DVD. I told her to watch it a few times, so she could assist.

A few days later, I receive a text from Cariann with a slipcover question, and next thing I know she had completely fit the whole chair by herself! Then the next day she sewed the cushion and slipcover ALL BY HERSELF! I am so proud of her...she did an amazing job!

Bedroom--- AFTER--she reused the back cushion on the chair and got some covered buttons made at Furniture/Mattress Supply in SLC, UT. You can buy the ones at Joanns, but they are cheap and the top always pops off...especially when tufting. So I sent her to get them professionally done. They are under $1 per button to have them made.

I was expecting to help her with the tufting part.....but she couldn't wait and took care of it on her own. She did a great job!!! Can you tell she's an army wife? She's used to taking care of things on her own.

Bedroom---- AFTER- She wanted to please the hubbie and went with a more masculine feel. She loved my Menswear Dining Room Post and was inspired by the colors. She also painted the walls a light blue color.

I helped her order fabrics from http://www.fabric.com/. The footwarmer is 3 yds of navy blue minky dot and I just roll hemmed the ends on it for her. Now it's perfect as a throw blanket and to help the white duvet stay a little cleaner with the kids.

The day her fabric showed up, she was super excited...so I told her to come back to my house and I'd help her with the pillows. She serged for me and we busted them out pretty quick.

I pieced the front pillow with some of the menswear pinstripe wool ($4/yd) that was left over from the chair and I pleat ruffled some extra bias strip that was used for the piping down the center of the pillow.

If I would have realized that she could do a slipcover all by herself, I would have let her do the pillows too. She was intimidated at first and thought she'd mess up the pillows, so I did them...and come to find out the girl has some skills!

This is her first slipcover EVER! She told me over and over she never would have been able to do it with out the help of my DVD...that she watched at least three times.

The tufted pillow made it for me. Also I love menswear. It prewashed great and was good to work with.

Close up of the bottom.....I had her remove the skirt to let the legs show. I had her order 6 yds of fabric for this chair, since she wasn't doing a skirt.

Chair--- After

Side of Chair

This morning, Cariann texted me to see if I wanted to help her shop for accessories to finish off her room. OF COURSE....shop with someone elses money and pick out decorating stuff.... uh YES!

So we headed into town to Hobby Lobby and found some great finds....Candles, votive holders, tray, zebra (my favorite), magazine rack and picture for above the bed.

Cariann spray painted this vase that she picked up at the thrift store in a hammered metal silver color.

Zebra--- Cariann wasn't so sure, but humored me on this one---- but now she loves it in the room. I like that it's a bit funky and unexpected.

The gray fabric ended up looking way different in person than what we thought we were ordering....it showed up looking like shiny foil fabric. Instead of returning it...she decided to use the inside of the fabric. Worked great!

CARIANN'S TESTIMONIAL

Hi my name is Cariann and I purchased Shelley's Slipcover DVD, so I could re-cover an armchair to go in my master bedroom. I have to say that the first time I watched the DVD I was a little hesitant to start because the only sewing experience I had under my belt was, home economics in middle school and high school. The only things that I had sewn were pajama shorts and a couple of pillow cases. After high school I helped make a simple quilt that was hand tied, so you can see I am very new at sewing!

Before I started, I watched her DVD 3 times all the way through and I took notes so I could refer back to them while I went! Her DVD was just what I needed to give me the confidence to start draping the fabric and making my first cuts! I have to say that making something old into something new was very rewarding and has built my self confidence immensely! It's amazing how a little bit of fabric and hard work can make a room so nice and enjoyable to be in. Thank you Shelley for sharing your talent and letting others gain new talents as well!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

This client decided she needed something washable....she just had her 3rd boy (I know how she feels). Her cream chenille couch wasn't cutting it anymore. Also the piping was all squiggly on her back cushions, I think the previous owner washed the covers.

Anyhow she decided to go with a gray canvas.

Couch-- BEFORE...not bad, but showing some wear with her three little boys.

Couch--AFTER.....I love the mix of the colors on the pillows!

Front of the arm.

Another after shot....love the turquoise lamp.

She decided to keep the same look and not have a skirt. I like the contemporary look with the legs showing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again....it's all about the PILLOWS! Pillows finish off your room!

No more squiggly piping on the back cushions.

She got her gray fabric from http://www.fabric.com/.
I love fabric.com because....
1) it's free shipping if you spend more than $35
2) you can always google and find a coupon code for at least 15% off
3)there's no sales tax if you live outside of Florida
4)if you don't like the fabric when it shows up...there's free return shipping too!

Side Note#1--- We got to go night skiing at Sundance last weekend. The kids were super excited to go. We didn't get to ski last year because of Heber's knee surgery.

It was that warm fuzzy family time, everyone was happy and no one whined! Good times...I love it when everyone gets along and is happy to do the same thing at the same exact moment. Luke got to use poles for the first time! Then we stopped for dessert on the way home.

Side note#2--- can't believe Maui was only 3 weeks ago....I want to go back already.